The Department of Mathematics is committed to high quality instruction. We will provide instruction safely and responsibly. In particular, we will follow official guidelines with regard to Covid-19. Consequently, there will be a mix of modes for delivering the curriculum, some of which are entirely online and others which will include a range of in-person opportunities. The Department has experience with these teaching modes. Department members have successfully taught a variety of online classes for years. Instructors will communicate detailed information about individual courses to students through a combination of email, Canvas, and other updates.

Some of our initiatives have been featured in an article that appeared in UKNow, see https://uknow.uky.edu/student-and-academic-life/not-book-chemistry-math-gatewayinstructors-adapt-hybrid-interactive.

Samples of Information for some Courses: To see the information scroll through the document or follow the links below:

MA 109 College Algebra
MA 110 Precalculus
MA 113 Calculus I for the Life Sciences
 

Dear MA 109 Students,

On behalf of the MA 109 teaching team, we are writing to welcome you to the course this spring semester. Our dedicated team of instructors is looking forward to working with you this fall as we navigate these chaotic and unpredictable times. We understand that you have many questions about what to expect for the upcoming term, and we hope this email will contain some of the answers you are looking for:

How will instruction take place in this class?

Course content will be delivered asynchronously: you will have access to videos and written materials which will be your primary source of course content. The benefits of this setup include the fact that you can pause, rewind, and re-watch the videos as needed. Although you will have to complete the work by set deadlines, you may work through the material at your own pace within that time frame. All MA 109 students will have access to the same material in this format, and therefore, as in all semesters, all MA 109 students will be learning the same content.

How will class time be spent?

This will vary by section and instructor. We have a talented team of educators who will deploy a variety of research-proven strategies to best support the students in their sections. Your instructor will be in contact before the first week of classes with more details. Exams will be given online on the exam dates listed on the Registrar’s website. More details about the exams will be posted to Canvas separately.

How will it help?

First and foremost, your instructor will be there to guide and support you throughout the entire process. Through office hours, virtual discussion boards, and other activities, you will have ample opportunities to ask questions and get help. You will also have access to other campus tutoring services, such as those provided by The Study and Academic Coaching.

We understand that the online aspects of the course may not be what you were hoping for. While we would also prefer to see you all in our classrooms, we must take the health and safety of our students, faculty, and the entire UK and Lexington communities seriously. Our instructors have been teaching online sections of MA 109 for years, with excellent results. We are prepared to give our students all the support and help that would be expected in any semester

We are looking forward to meeting you all in a few weeks, and if you have any questions before then, please feel free to reach out.

Katherine Paullin                                        Chloe Urbanski Wawrzyniak
MA 109 Course Coordinator                      MA 109 Assistant Course Coordinator
katherine.paullin@uky.edu                        ChloeUWawrzyniak@gmail.com
 

Dear MA 110 students:

We hope that this message finds you well and that you and your family are safe in these unusual times. While this semester will have a different setup than usual, this should work well for MA 110. We will be learning and practicing lots of problems together, with plenty of opportunity for you to ask questions to solidify the math skills needed for calculus courses at UK.

Because of social distancing guidelines, it is impossible for the traditional large lectures to meet in person during the regularly scheduled hours, but this does not mean you will be on your own learning this material. We will provide a complete set of annotated lecture notes, plus video content of instructors working common problems step by step; unlike regular lectures, you can pause, and rewind and learn from these videos at your own pace.

We will use the regularly scheduled lecture meeting times for synchronous Zoom meetings where the instructor will meet with the class in real time to answer questions from students. Each week, you should read over the lecture notes, watch the videos, and start on your homework -- then come to these meetings with questions.

The recitation sections will have approximately 30 students in them. These are more manageable regarding the social distancing requirement. Our current plan for the recitations is to have a mix of Zoom meetings and in-person meetings with a half-capacity (15 students approximately) at any given time. When meeting online, we envision that the small recitations will be broken up into small "breakout rooms" where you will meet a smaller group of students from your section to work on individual supplemental problems under the supervision of the TA. The intent is to reinforce the content learned through the videos and the lectures and at the same time to "meet" other students that are likely on the same career path as you.

As in previous semesters, homework continues to be a combination of ungraded practice problems and graded online homework. Exams will be given online, but they will continue to follow the style of exams given in previous years. It is only the delivery modality that is different, and we are working out the technical details for the implementation to ensure the academic integrity of the process online.

We hope that this message provides you with a clearer picture of the upcoming semester. Circumstances could easily change, and we will be ready to adapt to continue learning while protecting everyone’s health and safety. We are looking forward to working with you this fall!

Jack Schmidt (and the TAs)

 

Hello MA 113 students,

We hope that this message finds you well. We hope that you are excited about starting or continuing your career at UK.

We are writing to you to inform you of some preliminary information about MA 113 for Spring 2021. Our classes are divided into two large sections each with about 120 students each. Because of the size of our classes, we will not be able to meet in person during the regularly scheduled time for the class. For this reason, all of our classes will be hybrid classes where the main lecture will be online with videos and lecture notes. The class time will be Zoom meetings for you to ask questions of the professor. Zoom allows us to share mathematics with you more easily through a variety of apps for a tablet. The recitation sections will have approximately 30 students in them. These are more manageable regarding the social distancing requirement. Our current plan for the recitations is to have a mix of Zoom meetings and in-person meetings with a half-capacity (15 students approximately) at any given time. When meeting online, we envision that the small recitations will be broken up into small "breakout rooms" where you will meet a smaller group of students from your section to work on individual supplemental problems under the supervision of the TA. The intent is to reinforce the content learned through the videos and the lectures and at the same time to "meet" other students that are likely on the same career path as you.

You actually may have more access to your professor through the interactive class meetings and office hours than you would in the regular person-to-person meetings of the class. There will be ample opportunities for virtual meetings with your instructor and TA as we will plan many Zoom office hours throughout the week. We hope that you will take advantage of these personalized opportunities for learning in these unusual circumstances.

Our MA 113 professors have all taught online courses for several years. They are not new to the concept and have mastered the techniques to offer you a very good experience in the online component of the course.

All our sections of MA 113 cover comparable material and share lectures and assignments so that all sections cover the same learning outcomes in similar ways. The material covered this Spring semester is the same as in previous semesters. Exams and quizzes will be given online and will follow the same format of the exams given in previous years. The only thing that is different this Spring semester is the modality of delivery.

We hope that this message gives you a bit clearer picture of how we will be running the upcoming semester. Circumstances may change and we will be ready to adapt to those changes whatever the change may be.

Students or parents who have questions or concerns about Math 113 are welcome to contact me at david.royster@uky.edu

David Royster
MA 113 Course Coordinator